Germany's disgraced president pockets £240,000

Germany's disgraced president has stepped down following a full military
honours ceremony and pocketing an annual pension and perks package worth
over £240,000 after less than two years in the job.

Christian Wulff, 52, was forced to resign after state prosecutors demanded his presidential immunity was lifted as part of a corruption investigation, a scandal that has deeply damaged Angela Merkel's governmentPhoto: AFP

Christian Wulff, 52, was forced to resign after state prosecutors demanded his presidential immunity was lifted as part of a corruption investigation, a scandal that has deeply damaged Angela Merkel's government.

Controversial to the last, there is widespread anger that Mr Wulff was granted a grand tattoo of German military bands on Thursday night to play him out of office to the tune, at his request, of "Somewhere over the Rainbow".

The torch lit parade by hundreds of Bundeswehr soldiers in front of the grandeur of Berlin's presidential Bellevue Palace is a further embarrassment for the German Chancellor who attended the ceremony in spite of a boycott by four former presidents and opposition politicians.

"Somebody who failed in office is having a farewell ceremony as if he did great things for Germany," said Sigmar Gabriel the head of the Social Democrat Party.

Despite resigning amid serious corruption allegations, the former president will be entitled to a personal pension of £167,000 a year, as well as a chauffeured limousine and cash to run a staffed office.

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"It is a snub to those who are honest and law abiding who will have the feeling that the anti-corruption policies do not apply to politicians," said Vera Lengsfeld, a Christian Democrat and a former close ally of Chancellor Merkel.

Many Germans are angry that, even after being disgraced, Mr Wulff will be entitled to an income which is 16 times the average pension and five times the median salary in Germany.

Christoph Butterwegge, a professor of political science at the Univeristy of Cologne, said: "If I were Wulff, I would gone out the back door of the Bellevue Castle."

Jurgen Koppelin, a senior politician in the Free Democrats, Chancellor Merkel's coalition partners, has called for the abolition of the largely ceremonial office of federal president following the scandal. "It raises a fundamental question: Do we really need another president?," he said.